Run the Gantlet (15 page)

“You were waiting for me?” She simpered and arched herself forward, her breasts on display in the tight blouse.

Maybe once he would have taken what was on offer as Arrow adored women, but now there was only one woman for him. No one could compete with Eloise. Besides the artificial never interested him and that was al this woman could ever be. “Yes, I was.”

“I’m al yours.”

Out the corner of his eye he saw Eloise coming straight at them like an avenging angel. If the situation wasn’t so serious he would have smiled.
She is so
cute.
“But I do not want you.”

“Come on,” she whispered as she ground her pelvis toward him in invitation. “I know you want me.”

Not even if you were the last woman on Earth
. Arrow watched as Eloise stumbled in her haste to get to them. She picked herself up and kept moving.

The look of determination on her face was inspiring. Whether Eloise admitted it or not, what she did was for them so they could be together.
She is mine.

“No, there is only one I wil ever want.”

“And that’s me, you old bag.” Eloise rounded on the woman, taking her by surprise. “And why would any decent man want a complete and utter slut who is anyone’s for the taking.”

The blonde moved to stand beside Arrow. “He is mine.” Her red talon nails caught at his arm.

“Oh piss off! As if he would take on a trol op like you. He has more sense than that.”

“You wil pay for that,” the blonde woman seethed.

As much as Arrow wanted to interfere, he knew that it was Eloise’s test to deal with jealousy and move on without it destroying her. Besides, he had to admit it was exciting seeing Eloise do battle. She was feisty and total y in control.

“Oh I don’t think so.” Eloise stood hands on hip, ready to do whatever she had to. “Women like you cannot upset me because I have much more class in one fingernail than you have in your entire body. Added to that, I understand that the power of true love cannot be overshadowed by a quick fuck with any available body. Besides, you’re a witch. I am so much better than you are.”

Arrow smiled, his face softening at Eloise’s words.
How I love her.

“He kissed me.” The blonde looked at her in chal enge.

“He did not. God only knows where you have been and what germs you may have picked up. He’s not that sil y.”

“Vampires think with their cocks,” the witch pointed out.

Eloise looked at Arrow and smiled. That was sort of true but not in the way she meant. They enjoyed sex and were not beyond manipulating it for their own purposes but only if the woman was wil ing. Eloise looked the witch up and down in disgust. She was tired of her and the whole Caitriona thing. She pul ed the tooth out from under her shirt and held it in front of her like a talisman.
I hope like hell this is not something out of a bubblegum machine.

“What’s that? A tooth?” The blonde cackled in amusement. “Looking for the tooth fairy? She doesn’t exist, honey.”

Well, crap
. Eloise had expected a bolt of lightning or at least an eerie light that would have driven the witch to her knees in fright instead of making her laugh her ass off. Eloise looked at Arrow. What now? Before she had time to think, the other woman took that moment to charge at her. Eloise had never fought anyone before. She was a talker not a fighter. She saw Arrow move in to stop the witch but Eloise got in first. It was pure instinct and female hormones that made her bunch up her fist and smack the witch’s face. The blonde stumbled backward in shock. Eloise grabbed her hand. “Shit that hurt.”

She held her hand up to her chest as her bones vibrated in pain.

“Never use a closed fist, shorty,” Arrow advised as he stepped over the witch and went to her. “The heel of your hand is better.” He took her hand in hers and massaged it gently.

Now he tel s her. “Wel , being a girl I never got to learn that.” Hitting people always looked so much easier in the movies.

“I like that you’re a girl.” Arrow grinned her.

He was so sweet and sexy that Eloise felt a familiar wetness between her legs. She smiled back at him.

“You are doomed.”

Oh fuck, that’s right.
They had blonde bitch to deal with. Eloise looked at her. “I am not my kinswoman, you piece of pus. I know what you’re up to and you wil not win with me.” She pul ed her hand from Arrow’s.
Keep faith in the tooth. Mesopia would never lead you astray.
“You wil never mess with another Gaunt woman again.” Eloise held the tooth up once more and started to chant the Latin words that her friend had given her. “Please, God, let them be right,” she muttered to herself as her attention focused on the witch.

‘‘Expel o vos, pereo vos. Caligo nostrum ago haud magis Diligo est validus quam contemno Nostrum fortuna est nostri unus. Expel o vos, pereo vos.”

Before Eloise’s eyes, skin started to peel off the blonde to reveal the gray, haggard skin of the witch. She was as ugly as sin. Eloise jumped back in shock as the old woman screamed at her in anger.

“You have no idea what you have done. You wil pay for this. I am not alone in what I do.”

Eloise knew that but she refused to flinch from the cold, hard stare of the witch as she started to disintegrate before her eyes. Eloise felt Arrow’s hands pul ing her back toward him. She grateful y accepted the protection of his body.

The witch gave one last scream of frustration and exploded into a mil ion pieces.

“Nasty.” Eloise shuddered within his arms, glad that she was not alone. “Bloody hel that was hard to say.” She turned her face to his. “It’s much easier to say banish thee and perish thee in English.” Eloise’d had so little time to practice the words that she worried that she was either destroying a witch or ordering a pizza with extra cheese as she said them.

“I like the bit about our love being strong and our fate ours to determine.”

That Arrow knew Latin did not surprise her. “I bet I could have said that in English but Mesopia likes drama.”

Arrow nodded his head. “But it worked. That’s the main thing.”

“Yes, and I did not give in to jealousy.” Of course that was easy to say now that she knew her adversary had been an ugly old crone.

“Because you’re smart.” He kissed her cheek and pressed her close to him.

Eloise sighed. This was not over by any means. “Not that smart. We stil have a couple of pissed-off witches on our tail.”

Arrow chuckled suddenly. “You real y smacked the blonde one.”

“I wanted to kil her for touching you,” Eloise responded, remembering the wave of anger that had overcome her when she had touched Arrow. “It’s okay to be possessive. That’s not the same as jealousy.” Though, she did now understand how people lost control when faced with another trying to take what they loved most.

“It’s a fine line, shorty.”

“Hey, we’re both stil alive, aren’t we?” Eloise looked around her. “So where is Caitriona? I thought she would appear seeing as how I passed the test.”

“I have a feeling we need to find and take out the other witches.”

“It’s always something.” Eloise sighed, she was tired but would do whatever she had to in order to end this. “You would think Caitriona could do something to help.” A thousand-year-old woman would know a thing or two, surely.

“Patience. This wil al be over soon and we wil be together.”

“Yeah wel , the whole patience-and-virtue thing never worked with me.” Thank God patience had not been one of the tests. “Where to now?”

“I believe back to the shop and see Mesopia.”

Eloise had an uneasy feeling. “Do you think she is in danger?” That she could have placed Mesopia in that situation scared her.

“I think we need to get back.” He held her close in his arms. “We wil al get through this, shorty.”

Arrow’s words gave her courage. She held on to him as he spun them out of the graveyard.

* * * * *

“Damn it!” Darragh howled in anger. “That’s why I could not track her. She had the tooth.” They stood unobserved and away from the action at the cemetery. Everything Darragh had worked for was crumbling beneath her. Could anything be salvaged? She had waited one thousand years for the odds to turn back in her favor. That a weak and paltry human stood in her way was gal ing. Darragh cared not about Sineag. She would take what she could from Finel a for the final battle.

“She knows the old curse.” Finel a looked uneasy. “What do we do now?”

“It’s time to take hostages.” They had to gather whatever ammunition they could. Caitriona was coming back to life and Darragh would do whatever she had to in order to survive. The key to this was the current Gaunt woman. Weaken her and she weakened the clan.

* * * * *

“Man, I’m just in here to buy yak spit.” Swerve held the bottle up in his hand. “Be at peace.”

“Stay where you are,” Darragh commanded.

Finel a looked uncomfortable. “Why doesn’t he have any clothes on?” she whined as she looked from the naked man to his clothes on the counter.

Mesopia stood beside Swerve. “Neither woman is here.”

“But they wil be.” Darragh felt certain of that. “She is your friend. She needs you.” There was no doubt in her mind that the pierced one had given Eloise the spel . There was an untapped power that flowed from her. Darragh turned on the man. “Put your clothes on.” She couldn’t concentrate on the task at hand with a cock in her face.

“You would feel happier and more at peace if you went naked.” Swerve’s words were gentle.

“I don’t think we need to see that, Swerve,” Mesopia quickly intervened. She assessed the two witches. “What are you frightened of?”

“Nothing.” The response came out almost too quickly from Darragh. She cursed herself for showing fear.

“I expect by now Eloise has destroyed one of your kind, therefore lessening your power. From what stories I have read of you, I think only one of you can survive Caitriona’s awakening, if any of you do at al .” Mesopia did not cower nor flinch at the angry, haggard faces before her. “What did you do to her?”

“It wasn’t my fault,” Finel a whined as she wrung her hands as if she had suddenly realized the true state of her predicament. “Darragh had been Caitriona’s friend but she wanted to use her for her own means.”

“Bummer,” Swerve murmured. “That’s bound to be bad karma, dude.”

Mesopia hushed him. “For what purpose? What did you hope to achieve?”

Darragh sighed as she contemplated usurping Finel a’s powers then and there. She was no use to her for anything else. “Caitriona did not understand her power. She could have married the richest man in the country. Her children would have gone on to wealth and power.”

“As you would have,” Mesopia added knowingly. “How did you lose your humanity?”

Finel a answered that one. “She dabbled with the black arts in her need to manipulate Caitriona.”

“Wow, that’s heavy stuff.” Swerve hastily made the sign of the cross before him. “Real y bad juju.”

“I had to.” How would these mortals ever understand the likes of power? “She fel in love with the vampire and that ruined everything.”

Eloise and Arrow spun into the store at that moment. “So you kil ed Caitriona.” Although wobbly on her feet, Eloise’s eyes ran over Mesopia to make sure she was not injured. She turned to the man at her side. No matter how many times she had seen Swerve naked it was always a shock. Eloise shook her head and smiled at the little finger wave of recognition he gave her. Swerve was of their world but not.

“He’s naked.” Arrow’s voice was low and he sounded confused.

“Yes.” But a bobbing cock in a red thatch of hair was easier to deal with than the two witches who stared at them in malevolence.

“We did not kil Caitriona,” Finel a told her, not scared but not completely confident of the situation she found herself in.

“But she did not die by her own hand.” That was increasingly more obvious to Eloise.

The two witches changed uneasy looks. “No.”

“It had to be a spel .” Mesopia stated what the others were thinking.

“Not from us.” The witches were quick in their need to escape blame.

Arrow looked thoughtful. “I believe there is someone else who does not like Caitriona.”

Eloise had not thought of that. “Who?” Didn’t they have enough problems at the moment?

“I suspect we wil find out soon.”

Great. Perfect
. And Mondays were supposed to be the days that sucked, not Tuesdays. Eloise turned back to the witches. “So why would you care if Caitriona came back to life? Do you think she seeks revenge for what you did?” If it were Eloise she would, but then she was a Scorpio and tended to take betrayal badly.

“You have no idea what you are letting yourself in for.” Darragh’s eyes were dark on hers. “There are forces that exist that would turn your pathetic life upside down.”

Eloise snorted in derision. “Like I haven’t worked that out yet.” These past days had been the freakiest of her life. She shook her head. Some of this stil did not make sense to her. “Okay I’m confused. If Caitriona did not die because of jealousy, then why did she die? And, more importantly, why have we gone through the tests that we have?” What was that about? Yes, it had brought Arrow into her life, but at what cost?

“Because I knew it was the only way I could come back.” The voice of Caitriona Gaunt fil ed the shop. “I had to say what I did and link us together for I knew in my heart only a woman of the future could save me.”

Eloise stood and watched in amazement as her ancestress appeared before her. This was no shimmering apparition. This was a ful -bodied woman in a long, flowing cream gown with waves of rich red hair and intel igent green eyes.

Swerve clapped his hands in excitement. “Magic is awesome.”

Yes it was. “You’re real.” It was strange coming face-to-face with her kinswoman.

“As are you.” Caitriona smiled at Eloise and then at Arrow before her gaze turned icy as she turned to the two witches.

Eloise felt a shiver run down her spine at the venom she saw in Caitriona’s green eyes. She felt Arrow’s arm curl around her waist. This was one of those